South Viet Nam: Please Send Orders

In the two months since the overthrow of President Ngo Dinh Diem, the
news out of South Viet Nam has
been mostly bad. The Communist Viet Cong have scored alarming gains in
vital Long An province south of Saigon, which feeds the capital. For
all the fanfare with which they were welcomed by Diem's critics, the
generals who succeeded the slain President have demonstrated an
unsettling lack of political leadership; recently, the civilian chiefs
of nine northern provinces relayed a plea to junta chairman Major
General Duong Van ("Big") Minh: "Please send us orders."